Plateau Assembly crisis: Rep member seeks NASS intervention

House of Rep. (PDP-Plateau), Dachung Bagos has called on the leadership of the National Assembly to intervene and resolve the crisis rocking Plateau State House of Assembly.

Bagos made the call while addressing newsmen at the National Assembly Complex on Tuesday in Abuja. He said that Plateau House of Assembly was constituted in 2019 with 24 elected members under the leadership of the Speaker, Mr. Abok Ayuba.

He alleged that the speaker became a scapegoat for saying the truth as regards the killings and the state of insecurity in the state.

“Few days back, six members of the House of Assembly carried out a coup and purportedly impeached the speaker.

“I call on my colleagues, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President to look into this issue immediately.

“They should look into it before democracy is murdered in Plateau; before we are looked down upon that we do not respect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.

Bagos said section 19(2) of the Constitution clearly states that a speaker of a state house of assembly can only be impeached by a 2/3 majority members of the House. According to him, six members cannot represent 2/3, so this coup is clearly against the constitution of the country.

“Ayuba remains the legitimate speaker of the house that the plateau people know; this is not about party politics, he is APC and I am PDP, it is about defending the Constitution of Nigeria.

“It is about doing the right thing; it is about carrying out the legitimate assignment; it is about doing what is right for the people and giving the people what is right for them,” he said.

Bagos said he did not have any problem if the embattled speaker was impeached in accordance with the provisions of the law. “We are working hard to ensure peace in Plateau, but this action could fuel disunity and insecurity among the people.

“We will not sit here and allow illegality; we will not sit down and allow selfish reason to override the interest of the people.

“We stand for what is right and we will continue to recognise Ayuba as the legitimate speaker until 2/3 majority of the house impeaches him.

“But six out of 24 members sitting to impeach a speaker, is an act of murder on the constitution,” Bagos said.

Suzan O/NAN